This invention relates to communication and location systems. More particularly, the invention relates to systems and methods for determining whether a specified person has arrived at a specified location and providing notification of such an arrival.
There are certain circumstances in which a person would like to know whether another person has arrived at a certain remote location. For example, a mother might want to know whether her child has arrived safely at school; a husband might want to know whether his wife has arrived at the airport and is waiting to be picked up. To be sure, the mother could follow the child all the way to school, if she can, and the husband could simply wait at the airport for his wife""s plane to arrive. Alternatively, the child could call the mother as soon as he arrives at school, or the wife could call her husband as soon as she arrives at the airport.
These solutions, however, are inefficient and, sometimes, untenable. For example, the mother might be at work and unable to follow her child all the way to school, and the child might be unable to use a telephone. The husband might want to stay on the golf course for as long a time as possible before leaving to pick up his wife at the airport, and the wife might not want to be waiting in the airport any longer than she has to be. In such circumstances, the mother would nonetheless like to know when her child arrives at school, and the husband would like to know when his wife arrives at the airport.
It would be advantageous, therefore, if systems and methods were available for determining whether a specified person has arrived at a specified location. Such systems and methods would be particularly advantageous if they included a capability for the user to be notified when the specified party arrives at the specified location.
The invention provides a notification service for notifying a user that a specified person is within a specified distance of a specified location. According to the invention, the global positioning system (xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d) can be used in conjunction with wireless phone technology to enable automatic tracking of a specified person relative to a specified location. The user can provide the system, via a telephone or web-based interface, for example, with an identity of a person to be monitored for arrival at a given location, such as a school or airport, for example. The system notifies the user when the specified person arrives at the specified location.
A system according to the invention can include means for determining whether a specified party is within a specified location, and means for notifying a second party if the specified party is within the specified location. The specified location can be remote relative to a current location of the second party.
A system according to the invention can include a data store that contains identity data that represents an identity of the specified party and location data that represents a specified location. The data store contains data that represents an identity of a contact, such as a user of the system, and data that represents a communication pathway via which the contact can receive the notification message.
Receiving means is provided for receiving a location signal that represents a current location of a specified party. A signal transmitter can be provided in a device that is adapted to be worn by the specified party and to transmit the location signal. The device can also include a global positioning system signal receiver that is adapted to be worn by the specified party and to receive global positioning signals from each of a plurality of global positions system satellites. The location signal can include the global positioning signals, or a longitude and latitude associated with the specified party.
The system includes determination means for determining from the location signal and the location data whether the specified party has arrived at the specified location. The determination means can determine the current location of the specified party from the location signal. Transmission means is provided for transmitting a notification message if the specified party has arrived at the specified location.
The system can also include a user interface via which a user can provide the identity data, the location data, data that represents the identity of the contact, and data that represents the communication pathway via which the contact can receive the notification message.